Nestlé, Unilever, Ikea Food Services, and four other companies have joined together to form the Global Coalition for Animal Welfare (GCAW) to advance animal welfare standards throughout the global food supply chain.

Aramark, Compass Group, Elior Group, and Sodexo are the other four members of the new coalition, which aims to unite major companies and animal welfare experts to work towards improving standard for animals at scale to meet consumer demand for food products from animals reared in systems that promote good welfare.

The companies will “collectively address current systemic barriers to change, share best practices as well as accelerate the development of standards and progress on key welfare issues”​.

Over 70 billion animals are farmed for food annually, with more than 70% of these living in intensive systems and often experiencing poor welfare standards, according to the GCAW.

A collective action agenda will be published in the first half of 2019.

Nestlé​

The coalition’s launch was announced by Nestlé, with the company stating that the coalition builds on its existing commitment​ on farm animal welfare.

For example, Nestlé announced last year that it will source cage free eggs only as ingredients for all its food products globally by 2025.

In addition, in October 2017 Nestlé pledged​ to improve conditions for chickens raised to provide meat ingredients for our businesses in the United States. This is followed by an announcement in June 2018​ to implement similar improvements for all of its food products in Europe.

“Ensuring decent farm animal welfare standards​ in Nestlé’s supply chain is part of the company’s purpose of enhancing quality of life and contributing to a healthier future,” ​said the company in a press release.